In search of a better quality of life, fulfilling our dreams to see the world and provide ourselves and young children with invaluable experiences, we sold our home and possessions in London to begin our journey of a lifetime.
Here we will share our tips, stories, successes and failures, not only for our families and friends, but also to assist those who may have similar adventures in mind. We hope also to inspire those who relish the idea of travelling to newer and unfamiliar pastures but do not know how and those who require some evidence it can be done.

29 January 2011

Brazil: Planes, Pains And Automobiles

SOME journeys go smoothly and some do not. If you travel frequently, as we do, there are going to be occasions when you have disasters.

We had such a trip getting to Salvador in Brazil from Buenos Aires (via Sao Paulo). But, in truth, it could have been even worse.

A night without sleep followed by a day of flight delays can be difficult enough to cope with, but is made even harder when travelling with children.

All things considered, though, we – and, in particular, Zenchai – handled it amazingly well. We’d started at 6am, when rising from our hostel in Buenos Aires, and finished at 12.45am (11.45pm Argentina time), when our heads finally hit the pillows at our accommodation in Salvador.

Our plan to check out of our apartment in Buenos Aires to spend our final night in a hotel (which ended up being more like a hostel) backfired. We figured because of our early start, it would be better to be in a hostel, where they could call us a taxi for the airport (about 35 mins from Palermo) and wake us up.

The latter wasn’t required, though. Our fellow residents made enough noise drinking and talking loudly all night – so loudly they might as well have been in our room!

Although I booked a wake-up call, it never came. So, luckily, we were already up. None of us got much sleep. We’d gone to bed late that evening – after going out for dinner and then packing – and Zenchai took some time falling asleep. He required some waking up, too.

Then, after getting ready in 45 minutes, we headed for the airport in a private car (which turned out, at 125 pesos, to be about the same as a taxi). The driver dropped us off and, two hours before our departure time, we headed inside to check-in for our TAM flight, scheduled for 9.40am.

But when we were asked by a TAM official for details of our flight, she dropped the bombshell – “You’re flight is taking off now. The flight was changed two months ago. Were you not informed?”

To that I replied a big “NO” and calmly asked what our options were. It was 8am and they told us that we would go on a waiting list for the next flight, at 1pm, but there were no guarantees. “Come back at 12pm,” said the supervisor.

We hung around the airport, depleting our food supplies for the long trip, and headed back at noon faced with the prospect of camping out for the 2.45pm flight or, God forbid, the 5pm.

Fortunately for us, TAM put us on the 1pm. But we didn’t have much time after checking in our luggage. We had to be escorted through security and passport control to make it. The flight went without hiccups - until we got near Sao Paulo and the pilot made an announcement in Portugese. I could hear the groans. Then he updated the situation in English.

“The airport in Sao Paulo has been closed due to a severe thunder storms. There are no planes landing or taking off. We shall be in a holding pattern until cleared for landing.”

Although we had time to spare between connections, we still had immigration to clear. We waited around 45 minutes in the sky before touching Brazilian soil.

After getting our passports stamped (no questions asked), collecting our luggage and re-checking it, we grabbed a snack before heading to our gate for the Salvador flight. It was hot and cramped in the waiting area and our situation wasn’t helped when our plane was delayed an hour. This meant we’d arrive in Salvador at 10.45pm (hopefully our ride, organised by the hostel in Salvador, would still be there – we’d sent several emails updating them on our situation).

Zenchai fell asleep towards the end of the plane journey. He was so tired, he just turned to me and said, “I’m going to sleep.” Seldom does he ever say that.

We carried him off the plane, along with our bags. He snoozed until we had collected our cases and were ready to find our ride.

There he (the driver) was, in the crowd of people waiting, holding a sign with my name on it. Moses (his name) had been there since 5pm! Poor guy.

He seemed shocked, having been told to look out for an Englishman. "You look like one of us," was the gist of what he said.

Traffic in Salvador had died down by that time of night. Zenchai nodded off again in the cab and Moses drove us the 30km or so from the airport to the Historic Centre, where we were staying.

By then we were all ready to hit the sack, even if the streets were still lined with party revellers. Zenchai went out like a light. So did Jamie and I.

1 Comment

Oh wow, talk about luck! Good thing you still got there safe and sound, though tired and longing for rest I'm sure! You're all troopers, if it were me I would probably be sulking already! Chalk one up for travel adventures!